


Emetophobia

by LizzlyBear96



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: Bromance, Comfort, Emetophobia, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 05:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15478662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzlyBear96/pseuds/LizzlyBear96
Summary: A request for someone who wanted a friendly Jeff and Ryan fic. Jeff has anxiety and emetophobia, and it's really gotten to him, but he's never told anyone. Of course, Ryan has a knack for noticing issues with his friends, so before Jeff heads on home, Ryan catches him for a little chat.





	Emetophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go, A! I know it took a long time, but I hope you liked it nonetheless!

The bathroom door slammed shut, and Jeff rested his back against the cool frame. He shook his head as if to shake himself back into reality and headed over to the sink to splash some water onto his face. He placed his hands on either side of the white porcelain, and stood there to collect his thoughts, beads of water dripping down his face and long, dark eyelashes. 

 

Isn't it crazy how a simple game could just ruin the  _ whole  _ day? It wasn't even anything serious; a general game of Newsflash was all it was, and that was one of his favorites. Nothing ever went wrong, and he was never the squeamish one.  In fact he was the one to poke the most fun and the most jokes with the video on the small television. Today was a much, much different feeling. He flubbed a few times- which, was understandable, it happens to the best of them. Jeff was always able to be quick on his feet to recover himself. That caused the slightest onset of anxiety, number one. But it was what they were watching that kept him stilled and frightened,  _ nauseated.  _

 

Repetitive clips of people  _ vomiting _ over themselves,  _ lurching  _ forward, seeing the  _ chunks _ fly past disgustingly moistened lips. The mere thought kept sending chills throughout his spine, and kept his anxiety level peaked the rest of the day. It wasn’t something he had mentioned to the other guys, his irrational fear of vomit, and it was something that he didn’t want to talk about in the first place because seeing it was the worst, but the mere thought of it also never sat well with him. Even the  _ feeling  _ of wanting to vomit…. And it had caused him his common sense. Ryan had been working with him during that scene, and it was essentially all left to him to give the clues and motions. It was as if he had forgotten how to speak. And from that point it trickled through the rest of his performances. He wasn’t able to focus on anything but the images that flashed through his mind, and the sweat that seeped from his face into his clothes, the sweat that clammed his hands. He felt like he was running fever with as much as he was sweating currently.

 

A soft knock came on from the door, and Jeff turned his head slowly to it. 

 

“You almost done in there?” Came a deeper voice. 

 

Inhaling deeply, Jeff stood up and kept his face relaxed, and he adjusted his tie.  _ Suck it up, Davis. You’re fine,  _ he thought. He didn’t need anyone else to know what was going on.

 

“Yeup, caught me at the right time too!” He said brightly, and went to the toilet and flushed to make it seem like he was actually using the bathroom, and went back to the sink to wash his hands. He needed that grounding sensation. 

 

Jeff opened the door, and sure enough, there was Ryan, waiting next to the door against the wall with his arms crossed. 

 

“You alright, buddy? You ran off pretty quickly after the set ended.” Ryan questioned with a raised eyebrow and a soft smile.

 

“Yeah?” Jeff laughed a little bit nervously, and even as Ryan patted his shoulder and moved behind him to go inside the bathroom. “I’m fine, why were you waiting outside like a creepy old geezer?”

 

“Because I also gotta take a piss every once in a while.” Ryan went to close the door, but stopped. “Hey, wait for a second out here, okay? I got something to talk to you about.”

 

Raising an eyebrow at the other, he silently agreed to do so, and it sent a few thoughts to run through his head as he leaned against the wall. What was it going to be about? Was it going to be about his nervous actions? Jeff was a pretty good liar, and really great at creating a facade. If he had to, that’s all he would need to do was put on a stage face and work his way through it. But the way sharp pains were jolting through the middle of his abdomen and how the thoughts he had earlier still weren’t dying away, maybe this time would be a little harder than before.

 

Jeff heard the sound of the toilet flush and the sink run with water after a minute, and though the pains still were sent through his stomach, he kept his face neutral, and relaxed. Maybe if he said the word ‘relaxed’ enough, he would start to believe it himself. Ryan came out of the bathroom, and was digging for something in his pocket. 

 

“Wanna go out for a smoke before you go home?”

 

Pursing his lips a little, Jeff nodded. “Sure, sounds cool.”

 

They both made their way to the exit of the building. Everyone else had gone home for the day it seemed, as the hallways were quieter than normal. Ryan held the door open with his foot as he began to light a cigarette and let the door fall as he held out the pack to Jeff, who gladly took one and the lighter when Ryan was done with it. It wasn’t the best solution, but sometimes a little nicotine never hurt to take the edge off, even though it left a terrible grainy feeling against the teeth when one was done. There was a slight breeze outside, and the afternoon was busy as usual, even though they were behind the building.

 

“So,” Ryan began. “How do you think today went?”

 

Jeff gave a shrug and a drag. “I think… It could have gone a lot better than it did.”

 

“Yeah? Why do you say that?”

 

“Ah you know how it goes. Sometimes the days just suck major dick, you know?”

 

“Yeah. I get’cha.” Another deep inhale. “Listen, ah… At the expense of sounding a little nagging, I could tell something was off with you and you got me concerned, Jeff.” There he was sounding like the typical dad-friend that he was endearingly becoming. Guess it happens with age and children. “You sure you’re alright?”

 

“Ryan, relax, I’m totally fine.”

 

“And I totally don’t believe that for one minute.”

 

“Now why could you not believe this cute little face?” Jeff went to lighten the mood a little bit by grinning brightly, and showing off his pearly whites.

 

Ryan grinned and playfully shoved at the other’s shoulder. “Because you were all quiet and stuff and not acting all weird like  _ that.  _ What, you got a case of stage fright with the cameras?”

 

“No, believe me, it doesn’t have anything to do with the cameras.” Jeff gave a nervous little chuckle. “I used to shoot commercials, remember? The spokesbaby for the 80s masses.” He brought his hands up to his chin, and made another adorable face, hopefully to delve any further questioning. “And it ain’t got nothin’ to do with audience because they  _ love  _ me.”  Ryan snorted a little bit through his nose. 

 

“Alright, then…” Ryan couldn’t help but give a shrug of his shoulders in confusion.“Then what’s up, man? It’s not the cameras, not the audience- you think it’s  _ what   _ you’re doing?”

 

“Eh, it could be.” Right back to his normal self. He rested his hands to his sides and leaned against the brick wall with a hand in his pocket. “Improv’s a little new for me. I guess it’s harder than it looks. Sometimes it makes me a little nervous when I mess up.”

 

“Well you do a good job at it. It sounds like you just need to relax and not think too much into it, Jeff, you do fine up there. I mean, we all fuck up sometimes. I do, Colin does, Greg does, it’s just something you roll with.”

 

“I know, I know….” 

 

“I know you know but sometimes it’s nice to have that extra assurance.”

 

“Point taken.” Jeff replied with a slight smile.

 

They were silent for a moment, and Jeff continuously tapped his foot on the ground, trying to release some of the excess energy. As the time went on, Jeff found himself to be a little less anxious, but not entirely by much. He wanted to admit to Ryan what was really bothering him, but even thinking about it much less talking about it was absolutely a no-go from the start, especially since the thoughts themselves were becoming less frequent. He wouldn’t know how to if he tried. And he was sort of ashamed in the first place feeling like this. This constant battle between rationality and emotion was one of the worst things a person could deal with, even if it was on a smaller scale. 

 

“That’s not it, is it?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Dude, you’re still acting all kinds of jittery. You’re worse than me with the leg thing.” Ryan nodded his head towards Jeff’s still jiggling leg. “I’m not gonna press because if you really don’t want to talk about it I’ll respect that, but remember that we’re friends and you  _ can  _ talk to me. And not only that, but from a work stand point I’m one of the producers of this show, remember? If it’s something serious and it’s bothering you, I’ll make sure to take care of it and not make you feel so… Anxious. As open as we gotta be, there  _ are  _ limits, you know.”

 

He hit the nail on the head. Limits. But he didn't want to have limits. It made him feel weaker than he wanted to. But he couldn't deny that it wasn't wrong.

 

“Maybe… There might be something I could mention.”

 

“Okay, go ahead.” Ryan said softly. 

 

Jeff continued to jiggle his leg, and found the nausea start to bubble within his stomach again, and he could physically feel his face pale. He bit his bottom lip in some attempts to get a hold of himself. How was he supposed to get it out when he couldn't get even a single word to form? Ryan placed a hand gently on the other’s back.

 

“Hey, breathe. You look like you’re about to throw up, do I need-”

 

“ _ Don’t _ mention that.”

 

“What?”

 

“ _ That.  _ The throw up thing.” Jeff said harshly, and flicked away his cigarette and walked away, beginning to pace back and forth with his hands above his head. 

 

It took a little moment before Ryan could somewhat put two and two together. So it was something a little more complex than just an average anxiety issue, the latter of which Ryan didn’t want to let Jeff know that he knew he had some sort of form. Jeff was normally a bubbly person, chipper and a jokester, and an all around caring person. But sometimes, it was easy to tell when the other became on edge. Ryan had a bit of a sense for things like that, partially because on some level, everyone could relate to a little anxiety here and there. Sometimes, Ryan would creep up around Jeff in the studio during a particularly awful day and ‘surprise’ him. Normally it would ensue with a lot of cuss words and the initiation of an ongoing prank war, but it helped a little bit to distract the other from getting a little too caught up in his thoughts. That was a side that not many people really got to see, but it was common and most people could help. This however….

 

“Hey. Jeff,” Ryan walked down the little steps towards the other, making sure to keep a little bit of distance, and kept his voice calm. “It’s alright.”

 

“I wouldn’t exactly say it’s  _ alright,  _ Ryan. It’s fucking annoying is what it is.” Jeff took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. “I… Can’t stand… Vomit. I can’t stand it. It makes my skin crawl, it makes me sweat in places I didn’t think could sweat, it makes my anxiety shoot  _ through  _ the roof, it’s just absolutely disgusting. Dude, even thinking about it makes me want to vomit and that makes me freak out even more that it makes me want to. And today’s shoot just really got to me, okay?” There. He finally did it. That’s all he needed was the start. “It just really, really got to me. I couldn’t pay attention to anything else, and all day it’s all I could think about was vomit. And the anxiety made me want to vomit, which made it worse. It sucks so bad.” 

 

Ryan stood silent for a moment. “Jeff. It’s alright.” He said again, rubbing at the other’s back. “Listen. Next time, you just gotta tell someone. We’re not going to make you go out and do something that makes you this uncomfortable.”

 

“I don’t see how that’s fair though, Ryan. It’s my  _ job,  _ we all gotta do things we don’t like.”

 

“I don’t know what world you’re living in, but that’s not how it works, Jeff. If this is making you feel  _ this  _ extremely, then we’ll fix it. And that’s not up for debate.” Ryan said in a stern voice. “I’ll just talk with Drew about it. Okay? If it makes you feel better, we won’t let anyone else know. It’ll be just a head’s up for the next time, and we’ll make sure to leave you out of things that involve it. Okay?” 

 

Jeff had his arms crossed by this point, shaking his head and biting his lip in aggravation, and staring off into a different direction. He appreciated the gesture. He needed the gesture. Until he was able to somehow cope on his own, he needed the help. But damn if he didn’t feel bad. 

 

“Alright.” Jeff finally said. “Thank you.” 

 

“Don’t worry about it. That’s what friends are for.  _ And  _ that’s what happens when you don’t have an asshole for a producer who actually cares and gets the job done..” Ryan coughed, but it sounded suspiciously like the name ‘Dan’. Jeff laughed a little bit, and Ryan gave the other a hefty pat on the back again before removing it. 

 

“Let’s go grab something to eat. Unless you’re not up for that, of course, since... You might not feel so good right now. Sorry.”

 

“I’ll be fine, I'm always up for some food. In fact, I know the perfect bar that makes some great burgers down the street….” 

 

Good ol’ Jeff. Of course he’d know the perfect bar; he never failed to not know of a good place to go where ever he went. And that was perfectly fine. 

  
  



End file.
